Q&A

Right… So I thought this might be a great place for you guys to ask all your general questions about my comics, site, art, etc! Of course, for page specifics, you can go ahead and put that on the page, but I’ve noticed that a few of you have some great questions and it seems like it’d be a shame if they were lost in the sea of archives. Maybe someday I’ll figure out how to make a copy of those or move them to this page.

So ask away folks! Just make a comment post here and I’ll do my best to answer! The only things I won’t really want to get into are the “so what happens next” sort of stuff… cause ya know, just gotta wait! >)

1. Why did you choose to make Coffin a silent character? Ever since the days of console RPG’s (particularly Konami ones). Players had to deal with mute heroes that were hard to get attached to, because, well, no one knew what they were like from a personality/opinion standpoint. Obviously Coffin’s action speak louder then words in combat situations, but don’t you feel that dialogue would enhance individual character as it has for speaking characters?

2. How long does it take on average to complete a full comic (say, comic 33 or 34 for example)?. Does mastering A wacom pad really decrease production time? I think I read in a SMF post that you still scan sketches prior to drawing digital?

3. Was there benefit to making What’s Shakin a stand alone comic rather then simply making it a WoW related comic (was it so you would be allowed to print it without copyright infringement, or because it allowed additional versatility so you could add locations without worrying about wowland geography and the such?

4. Do you have anything to say to your critics who say WS is too closely related to WoW that it could be considered a clone/ripoff?

5. What it the purpose of Blueberry? Not only from character standpoint, but also an evolutionary one? And exactly what the HECK is it doing in the last panel of page 23!?

6. Does Ell have any plans to market her eternal-burning cigarettes?

7. Is the Extinguishers recruiting anyone who just hate mages in general? I think I know a Paladin….

8. How long do you plan to keep WS going? Indefinitely until you no longer have the time to make comics anymore? Is there a set overall storyline you are following that will eventually have a conclusion? Or just until there’s just no longer a reader base?

9. Have your printed comics sold well? Are there distributes that carry it or is it only “swag” style print on demand?

10. Did skadfry undergo a race change since page 26, where he had pointy ears? (I realize I should be the last person to ever be allowed to point out an inconsistency , given that I have about 10 on every page of my own comic)

1 – This is one of the bigger decisions I made early on, and one that I struggled with for a while until I finally settled with him being silent. I even had a comic planned on Coffin Comics with him speaking, but after seeing that and pondering…

Oddly enough, I find that his character becomes more dynamic when you remove his speech. Because he can’t talk, he has to rely on other modes of communication, which makes his friends seem closer because they can intuitively understand him, and adds an extra dimension of mystery around his character and history. And, of course, it opens the door to some bad obvious jokes…

2 – Uhg! It depends on what I’m doing, but it can take a good 30 hours for each page. Mastering a wacom would help! (though I’d never call myself a wacom master, I’m still learning!) To put it into perspective, my Friday Coffin Comics used to take that much time, now those are like 5-6 hours. I used to scan in my lines back when I first started, but now I do it all in photoshop, even the sketching.

3 – Yes, but it has its share of disadvantages too. Making it stand alone let me really open up my “universe” to do whatever I want with it. Also, by making it a general fantasy them, it becomes more accessible to everybody (I have Coffin Comics for my wowland funny fix). There’s also the print thing too, which is an added bonus. Downside… it splits viewership so my ad/hits go down, not a happy thing from a financial aspect.

4 – Yup, but I can’t say those things here. LOL! No no, it’s fine really. The problem with making anything fantasy now a days with orcs, mages, undead, elves, etc… is that it can all be compared to wow. But all of this has been around for a long time before. I mean, Tolken is kind of the grand daddy of all of the rpg things we know and love. Anyways, to answer your question, I say it’s fine for them to think that, nobody HAS to like my work, but keep in mind I pull my inspiration from a variety of fantasy sources so… yeah.

5 – Eh, comic relief mainly. He will have an additional function in a forthcoming comic… Spirit mages, or summoners, will play a vital role in the story, but as Pai mentioned before, the summoners each get a guardian spirit. Her’s is Berry. Heh, yeah… think he’s about to puke there… XD

6 – Can I claim she can conjure them? lol! Idk really, I’ve always like her character design as a little bit of a lush, so the cigs are an important part of her design. Though I guess her backpack is only filled with essentials… ya know, booze and cigs. >D

7 – Well, it’s been implied that they’re recruiting anyone that hates fire mages… ie Coffin. There are a few mages in their ranks too. (lol, but I see what ya did there… yeah… my pally hates them too)

8 – For a while actually. I do have a definitive ending planned, though how long it takes to get to that point is uncertain. Lets just say, I have a few good years of story planed out. Even have some other comic ideas on hold until I get more time or another comic ends. Though the bigger problem down the road will be if readership is so high, do you let it have an end or keep going? I’ve always kinda liked the idea of the former. But heck, if readership falls off the face of the planet, I’d probably continue through the end, because it’s a story I want to tell and it deserves to be finished.

9 – At the conventions, yes, a bit. Online, not so much. I think it’s harder to market to the online viewers something they’ve already seen. The books are great for new readers and have a few extras, but I guess it’s still a hard sell to make. That’s why, after the contest is done, I want to figure out how to have the books as digital downloads, so for a few bucks ($2?) they can get all the extra features as well. But uh, that’s going to be a pain to figure out on the eShop, so it’ll probably be after next week?

10 – @#$%%^@#$!!!!!!!!!!! I knew it! I knew I’d do this! I read an article before I started that had some great tips for new webcomic artists, and one was a warning about the difficulties of web vs print. In print, you have a LOT of eyes looking at your pages before they ship. They also get done as a whole before you send it off, so a change to story or art can be “easily” fixed before going live. Webcomics, as you know, are published regularly, so if something goes wrong… oops! lol! So yeah, I missed that… um… not sure what I’ll be doing about that… Either pull a Star Trek and work it into the story or redraw some ears… Good catch though! I kinda like his design as a Human though, so um… maybe we’ll just go with it? idk… starting to think I’ll just work it in. XD

11 – Many! But to name a few, I’d have to say a good bit of it comes from Dean Yeagle. Some of my photoshop techniques come from Lar Desouza. I’ve always had a bit of soft spot for the old pin-up / cheesecake artists, like Gil Elvgren. And I’d have to throw in a bit of Akira Toriama (DBZ guy). In general, the list is extensive! I won’t get into a whole list, but a lot of my photography is inspired by Gregory Crewdson.

12 – Active is a relative term. lol! I only get a few hours a week now, since I’m mostly drawing… and more drawing… But before the expansion I did endgame stuff… Still working on leveling up, though I’m not sure if I want to get my pally, shams, or mage to 85, or keep leveling my goblin warrior… idk… I keep flipping back and forth. When I get to 85, I’ll probably do a raid here and there though.

13 – Mostly just blast the itunes radio. I find House/Dance/Techno tends to get me into the drawering spirit! But I guess it depends too, cause sometimes I just enjoy the silence.

14 – Lol, in the comic or in your home? In the comic it’s like summer I guess. In the RL, FL is a beautiful 400 degrees in the shade, humid, and polleny. XO

15 – Hmm, seeings how a piece of it is lobbed off and somehow floating at the end of his one hair… Supercuts? lol! (if you don’t know who they are, they’re like the cheapo $5-10 haircut place… and yet… I still go to them…)

Chances are your pants are not as fancy as the pair
Of very fancy pants that Mr. Fancy Pants will wear
When everybody’s marching in the Fancy Pants Parade!
He’s gonna pass the test
He’s gonna be the best
The best in terms of pants.

I think there’s a couple of different factors at work here. Motivation “aka, the mojo” is sometimes a difficult thing to harness. See, sometimes there’s just no mojo to go on. I went for a year or so and made NO art… it was sad. But, I found my mojo once again and I’ve been pushing forward ever since. The wows and hows of that I don’t think I can answer, but I think the mojo flow falls into the next part…

I truly believe that deadlines and regiment are absolutely necessary for the “post art school blues”. What I mean is; when you’re in art school, it’s so easy to know what you need to do and when. But when you’re out… that structure is gone and I found it difficult to really find the drive. Doing this, the wordpress / weekly thing, I find it much easier to produce the mojo. So tl;dr, a big part of my drive is having clear deadlines. (there’s a nifty little chart somewhere that shows how productivity peaks right before a deadline… but without that, productivity is very low. I think that can sometimes be the case with mojo as well)

But wait, there’s more! A huge part of my motivation is that I have this story in my head. It plays out like watching a cartoon and I really really want to put it down on “paper” and share it.

(it also helps that this is what I do now. I can’t tell you how frustrating it was being out of work and not being able to find ANYTHING for so long, but I’ve started my own business, Jester Brand, and am seeing where it will take me. I have a long way to go, but lets cross our fingers and hope it’ll be as lucrative as it is rewarding.)

Ive just started reading this comic, and i have to say its pretty neat, but i still have a few questions.
1) How come the charectors speak in that wierd way?
2)does each charecthor have there own specific species ( like what is coffin)
3) Are you inspired by any webcomics? ( like dominic Deegan, or selkie)

Uhg… so I just finished writing your response… and it got deleted cause I hit a link… sigh… so here we go… take 2! lol

1 – The mages all speak in a south-eastern U.S. “drawl”. I mainly did this to add a little bit of flavor. Also, it helps distinguish them from the other groups (bladesmen and battlemages). Oh, and I really have this issue in the media where southerners are made out to be slack-jawed ignorant hillbillies. The mages are historically portrayed as very intelligent so I thought this might be a good juxtoposition. You could say I use the trope “southern fried genius”.

2 – Yes, I have your classic fantasy staples, like humans, orcs, elves, and undeadish. Coffin and Ell would fall into the “undeadish” category. Hmm… probably should toss in some catgirls to cover all my bases, lol!

Oh, just wanted to point out something I’ve tried to infer, that all the species coexist, the only separation is by their general abilities (magic, swords, and both)… more to come on this!

3 – Well sure! I read a LOT of webcomics and they all really inspire me to try my best, but in different ways. Not sure if that made sense, but I get something different out of all of them. I hate to just pick a few because there are just so many I love, but an example would be; I love the antics of TOTW, the intelligence of SMBC, and the artistry of LICD/LFG… and so on.

1 – Well, I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I drink Dos Equis Miller High Life! That’s my rot gut. Otherwise I enjoy the darker stuff… like sludge dark. mmmm! As for other alcs, I’m into the deep red wines, cabs and the like (though Limburger wine is my fav!). And a good margarita too!

2 – Depends… If it’s like defending my lady’s honor, then yes, a gentlemanly match of fisticuffs it is! But if it’s like someone being dumb, then I have better things to do than piledrive some dude through the ground. Or uh… Spend a night in the hospital… lol

3 – Give him a high five? lol… um… He’s how I do it… If his awesome piece of gear drops, you either need roll it or if you have master loot, you just take it, disenchant it right in front of him, then trash the shard. that’s right! Coffin don’t play! >)

First off “Cat Girls”= Hell Yeeeaaah
second i thought i might ask a few random questions
1)Whats your faviorite video game
2) What are your feelings towards hipsters
3)If you could wish for anything what would it be

1 – Oh, I like quite a few so that’s a hard question! But uh, historically, I loved the Final Fantasy games, like 7 was my first so I have to like it, but I loved 8! Of course I like wowlands too. But I played a heck lot more of Delta Force before that in college. Lately I’ve been enjoying Minecraft quite a bit. If I had to say a console game of all time, I’d give that to FF8.

2 – BURN EM!!! Lol, no no, I kid. I make fun of them a lot, but it’s all in good fun. Like lots of fads, it can get over done, especially if it’s forced up in your business, but it’s not something I’d launch the nukes over. Well… I might ponder it, but in the end, they would be spared. XD

Heh, I bet I could be labeled as one back in the college years… wearing my Sprite shirt, with fuzzy pants, a lab coat, and bomber goggles… all from thrift stores or course. Ah… Those were the days. I’m sure there are blackmail photos of that on the nets somewhere, so I’ll probably have to hold off on my ambitions to be president until my next lifetime.

3 – More wishes! Duh! Kidding! Um, well, I’ve seen enough movies and read stories to know that the wishes always end up going badly, despite their good intentions. So unless I get Robin Williams as my genie, I’m sure if I asked for world peace, everybody would be instantly vaporized…

Uh, but anyways. Should Mr. Williams happen to grace my lamp, I’d probably wish that I could play music too. I have no ability to do that (like, I mean at all!) and it would be fun to play the fiddle or banjo or something. Oh… and a real Transformers DeLorean. Why? Cause it’d be awesome!

False.
although Fuzzy was a bear, he did in fact have hair, though after a terrible accident in the Nair factory in which he worked, it has since grown back as “peach fuzz” (which, you know, is still hair).

Well, if you follow both Heisenberg and the thought experiment by Schrodinger, then you’d have to consider that the tree was, at one point, both struck by lightening and falling OR still standing OR an infinite number of other possibilities as in the “multiple universes” theory. And based on these principles, the act of observing a sound causes an error in the process, thus setting a single event. Thus, if it did make a sound, it would be only one of many possible outcomes, and the act of observation set it in motion. However, if nobody is around to observe the act, in a controlled setting, then all possible events would simultaneously exist, and so to answer your question…

Well, I wanted to give them some sort of flavor distinctive from the other groups of people. If you will notice, the only ones using a southern accent are the mages. Battlemages use a normal accent and Bladesmen use a proper accent (originally I wanted something British, but I uh… can’t write it at all so lets all just pretend…).

At the moment, yes. Trying very hard to make this work. So I’ve got a bunch of ads and merch here so hopefully I can make a living of it.

Ha, well, I wanted to give him something very unassuming and underwhelming… something not likely to strike fear in the hearts of children. Thus… Fred! XD Other than that, it was kinda random.

It, more or less, kind of just came to me. The weird thing is that it sort of works itself out; sure I add my 2 cents and guide it along, but for the most part, the course of events unfold on their own. Oddly enough, I actually think of the story (in my head) as a cartoon… like, it plays animated in there, and I try my best to copy the stills down.

Other than that, the direction I’ve tried to guide it has been one of balance and “the rise of the hero”. I didn’t want any of the characters to be particularly over 9000 powerful, they have their limits, and the one character that does seem to have a ridiculous amount of power, is throttled by hatred and danger of being absorbed. So I thought that direction might be a good one to take.

Hmm… hard one! Fav book is Alice in Wonderland/Looking Glass, reread that thing like almost once a year! Movie would probably have to be Samurai Fiction! Very good watch! Game is much harder… hmm… Though I do love my wowlands, and I’ve played a poop ton of Delta Force games… I’d still have to say FF7. Despite FFTactics being vastly superior. And though I love the idea of FF8 (it failed with having the beginning too short), FF7 was my first introduction into the RPG world so it holds lots of nostalgia for me.

Deathwing! MWAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Err… While my brethren would be displeased if my answer was anything other than female Night Elves, my general answer would be all the magic. Who wouldn’t want to have all the magic stuff in RL? If it needs to be a specific thing, the probably that city teleport spell set… cause driving and flying places just sucks! >)

eh, personally I don’t really pay attention to my own that much… except for when they start trying to connect… then they get the tweezers!

as for others, unless you do something, like draw them in, I probably wont think twice… though I always liked the 80s eyebrows! lol! remember those? oh, or like Jack McCoy’s… I always think about that guy from FLCL when I see Law & Order! XD

actually, I think I’m pretty good at faces. the cartoony stuff is kind of a detour for me actually… you’d probably be horrified to know my usual style is more photo-realism. in fact, one of my favorite things to draw are eyes!

I totally suck at hands and feet. dunno why, but they give me the greatest challenge. and walking for whatever reason… usually have to look in a mirror to remind me how it works. backgrounds I’m ok at, though I usually get a little rushed for time to really sit and put the details I want in them.

OH! and stars! beyond any realm of logic, I can NOT draw a star correctly on my first try!! they end up looking like asterisks or amorphous blobs. XD you’ll see in page 51 the kind I’m talking about…

I do everything digitally now. once upon a time I used to scan stuff in, but it takes so much more time to do all that… at cons, I will do commission stuff on paper though. as for my idea sketches… I do those on paper, but they’re a bit less impressive than stick figures. if you can imagine that! >D

1. Are the undead in this universe reanimated former humans, or are they a race all their own? Do they reproduce or grow like normal living beings? I suppose it’s an unimportant detail, but with two of the protagonists being undead, it got me wondering how your version of undead “work.”

2. Are there mixed-race beings in this setting such as half-elves or half-orcs? (Or half-undead, if the undead actually do reproduce normally?)

3. Just how old is Pai? She was living at a boarding school, and it seemed to be implied that she’s too young to live on her own. But with a rack like that, she can’t be THAT young.

1 – A race all their own! Kind of dropped a few hints here and there, but yeah, they reproduce and grow like normal peoples. Think this will be slightly more clear towards the last few pages of Issue 2. I kinda liked the idea of the undead/zombieish peoples being able to have little undead kids. >)

2 – Heh! This is something I’ve been mulling about for a while… and not exactly sure how to reveal it in the story… maybe just nonchalantly mentioned? Anyways, I plan on it working like this: you get your looks from one parent and your powers from the other. Kinda goes well with my “race doesn’t matter” theme.

3 – Pai is 19. (Coffin is 22, Nith is 26, and uh… I fear what would happen if I told you Ell’s age… ) As for the extended version of her past… I’ll probably have to revisit this at some point in the story, but the quick and dirty preview version is that the city (Cloudgig City) is the hub of the mage world… so think, big university and advanced magics. Due to her past, she has been unable to learn and use spirit magic. I used the term “boarding school” rather than “orphanage” to indicate that she was pretty much stuck there with the younger crowd as she attempts to learn magic (as opposed to getting kicked out at 18, it would be more like a tuitioned school with room and board). This will most definitely be addressed in Issue 3 (in theory), but a mage without magic kind of has no real place. The entire society revolves around magic, so not using it in any form limits one’s career path. Thus, the reason she stuck around, even if the situation was less than desirable.

(again, I really hate saying this, but some day… in the future… in a galaxy far far away… I’ll explain this in a page or two! lol! so stay tuned for updates!)

Hi there! I’m the guy that suggested Pink Panther art for a flashback… and I wanted to ask a question.

The Deader’s are living… well… uh… they’re… people. That reproduce. So, are there different varieties of Undead? I notice that Shaker has his lips ‘sewn shut’ and Ell has a Halo… soooo… I was just curious. Since there are different races of human, and in WoW there’s different races of Orcs, Elves and the the like… *Shrugs* Just curious.

Well, the way I see it is that it’s probably more like Humans, where it’s mostly superficial stuff like skin shade or eye or hair color… nothing major like orc/elf hybrids. As for variety, it’s pretty much just the species you see there. Don’t foresee anything similar in the future, but who knows…

Coffin’s mouth stitches were mostly just an aesthetic from the first designs. Guess I made that part of his character even from early childhood huh? Anyways, it’s become, more or less, a physical metaphor for his inability to speak. Dunno if he’ll get a “how he got stitched up” backstory, but I kind of fancy it being an “as is” sort of deal.

Now for the important stuff… While I have a fondness of the color green, to which I greatly adore my green reptilian turtle friends, and by profession they often seek employment in the study of martial arts. However, on this (err… the 19th) most hollowed day, I must profess my affinity for plundering! YAAARRRRRRRRR!!! >)

heh… that happened to me a few weeks ago… had a dream a wasp was stinging me and literally jumped out of bed and fell into a bunch of boxes of convention stuff.

Anyways… I use Photoshop (cs4) to do all of my drawing/inking/coloring/etc.

Attached to that is a decent rig with a wacom intuos 3 tablet (which will soon be replaced by a cintiq). Photoshop eats ram for breakfast, so if anyone is interested in using it, you should have at LEAST 8gb!

1)do you have a facebook and if so can I get a friend request?
2)I read a bunch of webcomics and I would like to know which ones you do my favorites are as follows
questionablecontent.net
cad-comic.com
wtfcomics.com
lfgcomic.com
and whatsshakin…wait nevermind about that one :P anyways
3)and most importantly horde or alliance

1 – yup, I’ve “got” one! I’m awful about updating and keeping up with “emails” on it… but you can either click the coffinshaker reading the “f” book link or just go HERE.

2 – oh my… I read so many! but a few highlights:
SMBC
Slimy Theif
Modest Medusa
Nerf Now
Spriniette
Omake Theater
and more… I probably have 3-4 dozen on my list I go through! XD
I really aught to make a proper “links” page… but I’m just a tad lazy with that.

3 – Horde! but I also have a Dwarf Hunter I like to tool around with when I’m hating my paladin. lol! well, that is… until they let me expatriate him over to the Horde! a dwarf horde, it would be epic!

It’s a real shame. I remember it fondly from my early dwarven days as something of a pillar of Alliance influence on the western continent. Always loved the ally construction and castley look. And weren’t there quite a few notable characters who lived there as well? Like Thrall’s main squeeze, Jaina? (I still refuse to believe those two never made it as a couple…) So yeah, the Horde in me is happy to have it, but the little dwarf now has to drown his sorrows in the bottom of a flagon of ale.

Yikes! That’s a hard one… While I probably should say all of this webcomic craziness and my official answer should be “it’s yet to come”, I have to say my proudest achievement was acing calculus. Doesn’t seem like much, but for someone who failed at math most of his life, it was my proverbial mt.Kilimanjaro. As for failures… there have been a few, and I’m sure there will be many yet to come, but I think the one that bugged me the most was never getting my winery business off the ground. Sad too cause I think I can make a mean bottle of wine. >)

While I’d want to have a swimming pool filled with gold coins like Scrooge McDuck, I’m pretty sure that doesn’t count… so… I’m going to go with giant evil mecha robot I can take over the world with! That or a solid gold statue of myself… that seems like a good use of money I think. XD hmm… though, if it didn’t have to be something that existed, I’d get a cheap interstellar space ship I could zip around with… Think I’d want to do that more than anything else! But I guess by the time they make it, inflation will be so bad I’d probably be lucky to even buy a candy bar with that billion. >)

Will Coffin always resort to a sort of pictionary like method of telling a story, or will he try something else next time? Because I think it’s be hilarious if he tried to tell a story or something using pinecones and sticks.

probably the bulk of his communications will be more pantomimery, but I like the idea of trying different things for him to get his point across! I like your idea though! one of those nice ones that it’ll probably make perfect sense to him but nobody else will have any idea what he’s trying to say. XD

1 – Yes, I use Photoshop CS4 (with a custom computer built for photoshop optimization). Also, I use a Wacom Cintiq 21x! Before that was an Intuos3, but the cintiq is so much nicer! >D

2 – Yup! I do all the coloring and whatnots with photoshop! Paintbucket is my friend!

3 – Well, usually I do 2 comics for Coffin Comics in the beginning of the week and then the next What’s Shakin’. The third CC is usually made on sunday. >)

As for production; I use page templates I made myself, then use a LOT of layers! I do a blue layer first which looks like stick figures, then make my boxes, then do a pink layer which is much nicer, after that is the ink layer, and then I fill in with colors. Next up I use 2 layers that make either shadow or highlights via an adjustment layer. Then I do whatever special effects like fire or lighting flares and finish it all off with a soft focus effect. Oh, and text goes in there at some point. Then Bob’s your jolly uncle!

4 – Probably should say Bulls since I’m a USF graduate. >)

5 – Man, I really need to get back into my tutorials, but drawing characters is “easy” once you get the hang of it. Bodies are all pretty equal when it comes to proportions. Like faces, they’re an oval, eyes in middle, bottom of nose at the bottom 1/4, and mouth at bottom 1/8. The best way to learn the body is to study it, but one of the methods I use to have a model handy! No, not one of those fleshy types, but either wooden or my favorite, a 3d digital one! I use DAZ 3 to model the 3d character and just screenshot it when I got the pose right and then trace it out. I don’t end up using this often, but it really helps if you can’t get something to look right (especially hands).

Other than that, it’s good to sketch a lot! Sketch sketch sketch! Some of my panels I’ll redo a few times to get the poses right cause they don’t look natural.

Personally, I usually start with the head then work my way down. Sometimes it’s good to start with a stick figure that’s proportionate and then just filling the bones out.

Also… draw naked! No, not YOU! Draw your peoples naked and then put clothes on them. It’s the best way to make sure your proportions are correct and that the clothing is draped properly.

Hope this answered all your questions! >D And thank ya for reading! I love making these things so I’m glad you loved reading em! >)

Thanks alot! I wasn’t expecting you to really answer that much! It was also quite humorous how you explained things. I may try in a year or so after I get settled in (Practice, upgrade computer, school, that kinda stuff). Well, best of luck to ye.

Um, lets see… it depends on what you want! If you’re going for a tablet (no draw on screen), then I’d hit up Amazon and get like a model behind. That’ll save you a few hundred bucks right there! I did that when I got my Intuos3! If you’re wanting the cintiq (draw on screen), those are a bit more tricky because they tend to run out of them for periods of time… so I’d check out some decent photo equipment retailers. I got mine from B&H PhotoVideo, actually get a lot of stuff from them, and it came in pretty nice. They were also the only ones selling it at the manufacturer’s price, unlike other places that were marking them up as much as $500!

Now, just a word of warning with these things… The Intuos tablets will get run down, like the drawing surface, so it’s not a bad idea to buy a backup for $30 (drawing screen thing) and of course, extra nibs too! You’ll go through nibs like once every 3months for the Intuos3 and probably more than that with the newer models. But they are very hardy little fellers! (also check out my tutorial at my jesterbrand site for setting it up!)

As for the cintiq, it is a wonderful wonderful machine! Just keep in mind that even though it’s very expensive, it will probably have some busted pixels. And you’ll have to be ok with that because they won’t replace it for like 1 or 2 or 5 pixels. Otherwise, it’s awesome! >D

Oh, and if you decide to get the Intuos series, I’d recommend getting it early on in your artistry career. There is kind of a learning curve with it because you have to learn how to draw while looking up and not at your hands/paper. It took me a while to get the hang of it, so I’d get it sooner to practice with. Definitely nothing like drawing on paper, that’s for sure!

1 – for pencil drawing… hmm… I personally like a nice mechanical pencil with a soft lead, like a 2B or softer. (regular pencils are HB which is like 2 harder) The blue one, aka “ColErase” are fine to if you plan to ink later, but idk, I never really got into them and seem weird. But lots of folks use them so maybe they’re fine?

2 – Nothing wrong with practicing! Depends on how you color. Some folks use color pencils which are nice. Others use fancy markers… I’ve never been able to do the markers right, but again, that seems to be a standard thing. As for doing things digital, it’s nice because you always use layers so you can just delete a color layer if you don’t like how it turned out! >D

3 – Well… been making art forever it seems! I took art classes in high school and majored in it in college. As for comics, I made one for a WoW contest a long time ago then made a few for my guild’s forum… yada yada yada, I ended up making a website and things just snowballed from there. XD

6 – Well, I’ve been doing HTML and websites since I was little, so I kind of just do it all the hard way. There are a lot of good spots to start, like wordpress.com (or .org?) one of them is free. Some other comic sites are free too like Drunk Duck and a few others I cant remember atm. Pretty much the best way to get going is to make a routine and do it like every week. Once you feel more ok with doing web design and such, you can sign up to a hosting site with more freedom (like the link up top for IXwebhosting) but you’ll need to learn how to programs it. It’s not really that hard once you get the hang of it, but coding can be a bit frustrating at times.

Hello, I’m doing the itstoohard puzzle and I’m wondering if the giveaway finished already or not, I would also like to know the answer to the sixth question, but I can’t seem to find the answer, if you could at least give me a h¡nt because is the only question I’ve yet to answer